The Court of the Dead

Background

The prequel to The Court of the Dead, The Sun and the Star, was released on May 2, 2023, and was originally intended as a standalone book. It became the number one bestseller on several lists, including The New York Times Best Seller list for Children’s Middle Grade books. The Sun and the Star spent 73 weeks on that list and was the number one overall bestseller on the American Booksellers Association IndieBound Best Seller List for Early & Middle Grade Readers for all of 2023. It received the Common Sense Selection Seal for Families and was named a Best Middle-Grade Fantasy of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews. Due to this success, the sequel was announced by Riordan and Oshiro on February 28, 2025.

Plot

Three months after their quest to Tartarus, Nico di Angelo and Will Solace are helping Dionysus and Chiron manage a large influx of new campers at Camp Half-Blood. They are summoned to Camp Jupiter by Hazel Levesque, who explains that their journey has caused several monsters—now calling themselves mythics—to seek sanctuary there. These mythics include Asterion the Minotaur, Johan the blemmyae, Quinoa the karpos, Arielle the empousa, Orcus the gryphon, and Semele the eidolon.

Nico and Will work to help them integrate, facing backlash from the Roman legion. Progress is made with some mythics, but they begin vanishing after unsettling dreams about judgment. The Coco Puffs help uncover the culprit as Laverna, a minor Roman goddess who leaves an ID badge. Following this clue, Nico, Will, and Hazel discover Laverna works for the Court of the Dead, a tribunal run by Pirithous, Tantalus, and Mary Tudor.

The Court claims to destroy beings completely and seeks to overthrow Hades. Hazel is placed on trial and seemingly executed, but warns Nico not to believe what he saw.

Characters

Nico di Angelo is an Italian-born Greek demigod, son of Hades and Maria di Angelo. He is 15 years old in this novel, with black hair, dark brown eyes, and olive skin. He is the first openly gay character in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles and the protagonist of this series. Will Solace is an American-born Greek demigod, son of Apollo and Naomi Solace.

He is 16 years old, with blond hair, light blue eyes, and white skin. He is the first openly bisexual character in the series and the deuteragonist of this book. Hazel Levesque is an American-born Roman demigod, daughter of Pluto and Marie Levesque. She is 15 years old, with cinnamon brown hair, amber eyes, and black skin.

She is the tritagonist of The Court of the Dead. Asterion, formerly the Minotaur, is the son of Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull, with the head of a bull and body of a human. He reclaims his birth name and seeks to make amends after being inspired by Nico and Will's actions.

Release

The Court of the Dead was published in American English by Disney-Hyperion in the United States and in British English by Puffin Books in the United Kingdom on September 23, 2025. Translations include Dutch as Hof van de doden, Italian as La Corte dei Morti, Polish as Trybunał Umarłych, Turkish as Ölüler Mahkemesi, Brazilian Portuguese as O tribunal dos mortos, Spanish as La corte de la muerte, and Thai as พิพากษ์ลับดับวิญญาณ, all released in 2025. French and German translations are scheduled for 2026.